Apple variety Gloucester
Gloucester (Gloster) - a variety of German-bred apple trees with fruits of late winter ripening period. Bred in Germany in 1951 by hybridizing Glockenapfel and Richard Delicious. Popular in Western Europe. The variety has successfully passed the initial and production tests on the territory of Ukraine: in the plantings of scientific institutions and in individual farms of gardeners located in the steppe, forest-steppe zones and in the south of Polesie. In Russia, Gloucester is most common in the southern regions.
Trees are vigorous and fast growing. Crohn medium thickened, pyramidal or highly oval in shape, becomes rounded with age. Skeletal branches form sharp angles with the trunk (45-60 degrees), the ends of the branches are directed upward. The kidneys are highly excitable, and the ability to sprout is below average. The type of fruiting is mixed: the fruits are tied on ringlets, fruit twigs, fruit bags, on spears.
Apple trees bloom in mid-late periods, for a long time. The inflorescence is formed mainly from 3 to 4 flowers. The pollen viability ranges from 32 to 80%. As a result of free pollination, from 12 to 18% of fruits are tied, from the best pollinators - from 22 to 26%. The following varieties are recognized as the best pollinators of Gloucester: Idared, Jonathan, Gala, James Grieve, Spartan.
The fruits are rather large, the average weight of one apple is 140 - 180 grams, but it can easily reach 200 g. The shape of the fruit is round, slightly conical, the ribbing is most pronounced at the top of the apple. By the main color, the fruits are light yellow, the integumentary color is expressed practically on the entire surface of the apple in the form of a raspberry-red blurred blush. The peel on the fruit is firm, smooth, shiny, elastic, of medium thickness. Subcutaneous points of light color, clearly visible, numerous. The calyx is usually closed, with a rather large depression, very large, wide, with folded walls. The sub-cup tube is medium in length, conical in shape. The funnel can be different: wide or relatively narrow, deep or medium depth, unrusty or slightly rusty. The stalks are often medium in thickness and length, much less often - thin and long. The heart is medium in size, heart-shaped in shape. The seed chambers are slightly open. The axial cavity is medium. Seeds are well done, medium in size, oval in shape, located in the chamber in small numbers.
The pulp is light greenish at the time of picking the fruits and light cream color during the consumer period, dense structure, the taste is pleasant sweet and sour (the sourness is barely caught), juicy, tender. On a 5-point tasting scale, the taste of Gloucester apples is rated at 4.4 - 4.5 points.
Fruits ripen by the end of September. For the full development of the taste, apples have to lie down for some time, so the consumption period begins only from January. In storage conditions, the fruits are stored until February, and when stored in the refrigerator - until April - May. High transportability. The main purpose of the variety is to consume fresh fruits in winter and partly in spring.
On a medium-sized rootstock MM-106, apple trees begin to bear fruit in the 4th year after grafting, on a dwarf rootstock - in the 2nd - 3rd year. Fruiting is regular, with each subsequent year the yield of trees increases smoothly, gaining the highest intensity by 10 years of growth. From a 10 - 12-year-old apple tree, you can collect from 35 to 75 kg of fruits. The productivity potential is most effectively realized on dwarf rootstocks.So, on a dwarf rootstock, already in the 3rd year, up to 3 - 5 kg of fruits are formed.
The winter hardiness of the variety is relatively high (among the derivative varieties of Red Delicious it is the highest). Resistance to powdery mildew is high, to scab - medium.
The main advantages of the Gloucester apple tree are: elegant fruits with a pleasant taste, high keeping quality.
Among the main disadvantages are the vigorous growth of trees and an insufficiently high level of frost resistance in regions with a temperate climate.
To obtain tasty fruits, the sum of annual active temperatures of about 2650 degrees is required.
